Our First (And Last) Trip To The Public Pool

New York City has 80-something public pools that are open 'til Labor Day and free for everyone—as long as you don't mind following a lot of rules.

I probably should have guessed based on its name that Double D Pool (which shares its moniker with a New Jersey strip club and, um, a large bra size) was going to be a disaster on several levels. But it's the closest one and my friend Tatum loves taking her 2-year-old there, so on Sunday, off to the Double D Rory and Emmett and I went, along with our friends Dave and Alicia and 7-month-old Isabella.

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When we made our way to the front gate, an employee announced that no clothing was allowed on the pool deck. Meaning, the dress that was covering my 12 weeks post-baby bod was going to have to stay in the locker room. Ouch. Sure, I was wearing a bathing suit (if I hadn't been, I would have been sent home), that doesn't mean I was planning on revealing it!

Alicia and I gave the guys our dresses, which had to be locked up, along with our bags, and I tried to achieve some level of modesty with a not-quite-big-enough towel. Then we carried the babies and our mini diaper bags (glorified changing pads, really) through the locker room, where we were informed we'd have to shower before making our way to the pool. Sheesh.

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On the pool deck—at last!—we met up with Rory and Dave, picked a quiet-ish corner of the pool, and went about the business of Baby's First Swim, which was all splashing and smiles … until Alicia pulled out her camera.

"You can't have that," the lifeguard yelled.

"But they let us in with it."

"You can't have that, and you can't have a diaper bag."

"But they let us in with it!"

"It has to go in the locker. Now. The diaper bag, too."

The only photographic evidence of our adventure.

Before Alicia could flag down Dave, who had left their other stuff in the men's locker room with their only lock, the lifeguard had radioed for backup and the pool manager, two employees wearing "Security" T-shirts, and a police officer—with a gun!—were removing our contraband diaper bags from the pool-side benches.

Suffice to say, that was the end of our visit to the public pool.

As Dave later said, I'm glad there are pools available to the public for free. I just don't think I'll be visiting them again.

Do you play in your local public pool? What other free fun does your city offer?